Starter control



p 14, 1931-- A. F. JACKSON 1,800,636

STARTER CONTROL Filed March 14, 1929 Patented Apr. 14, 1931 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE ALFRED I. JACKSON, OI ATTLEBOBO, MASSACHUSETTS,ASSIGNOR TO LEWIS B. RECEIVER 01' THE APGO IOSSBEBG CORPORATION, ACORPORATION OF MASSA- CHUSETTS 'srnnrnn con-r301.

Application filed larch 14, 1029. Serial in. 348,970.

My present invention relates to starter controls, and moreparticularly-to a novel and improved control for the self-starter of aFord automobile.

An im ortant object of the presentinvention resi es in. the provision ofmeans, operable by manipulation of the spark control rod, to depress thestarter rod for starting the engine.

Another object of the invention is in the provision of such a device,constructed and arranged so that the spark must be retarded to apredetermined degree before operation of the starter switch.

A still further object of the invention resides in the provision ofmeans, simultaneously and automatically operable on operation of thespark control rod, to advance the gas control rod a suflicient, distanceto insure an ample starting mixture.

Another feature of the invention consists in the provision of cammechanism, operated through the medium of the spark control rod, toautomatically depress the starter rod. This last mentioned cam mechanismcomprises a fixed cam sleeve mounted beneath the dashboard, and aslidable cam sleeve associated therewith, each of said sleevessurrounding the starter rod and" the lower or slidable sleeve contactingwith a projection on the starter rod whereupon, on operation of thespark control rod inthe proper direction, the slidable sleeve will bedepressed by the cams on the said fixed sleeve.

Another feature of the invention resides in the provision of springcontrolled means which will become operative when the spark has beenfully retarded, to prevent further movement of the spark adjusting rodduring continued operation of the slidable cam sleeve.

Another and important feature of the present invention, and one whichwill be instantly appreciated by those skilled in the art, as well as byautomobile owners and operators, resides in the fact that I effect noalteration or change in the existing starter switch, starter rod orspark adjusting rod, my present novel device being an addition ratherthan a subto manufacture, easy to install, simple to operate, andeflicient and desirable to a high degree.

The above and other objects of the invention, details of construction,combinations of parts, and advantages will be hereinafter more fullypointed out, escribed and claimed.

Referrlng to the drawings, illustrating a preferred embodiment of thepresent inven- Fig. is a diagrammatic view of a steering wheel andcolumn of an automobile, illustrating the attachment of my novel device;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the spark control rod and quadrant and gascontrol rod and quadrant illustratingthe operation of my invention;

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view, on enlarged scale, on the line 3-3 ofFig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of my novel starter control mechanismconnected to the spark lever and starter rod;

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of the arm connecting the sparkcontrol lever to the slidable cam sleeve, and illustrating the means forcontrolling the movement of the spark adjusting rod;

' 6 is a top plan view of the said arm F1 and 51e movable sleeve; and

socket on the underside of the spark adjust ing rod 5. In attaching mynovel apparatus, I disconnect the rod 5 from the ball stud 4, and fitsaid stud 4 in a socket 6 carried by the arm 7 one half of the socket 6being struck up from a plate 9 which is secured between the two sectionsof the arm 7 and held in a place by the rivets 8 which unite the two A.which in turn is aflixed to a yoke 12 having;

projecting arms 13. The socket in the adjusting rod is .snapped over theball stud in place of the stud 4'to which it was originally coupled. Itwill be understood that the adjusting rod 5 extends to the timer of theautomobile, which it adjusts by means of a short lever 29 to which saidrod 5is at tached.

' The end of the arm 7 opposite the socket 6 carries another socket 14within which is adapted to be snapped-a ball stud 15 carried by a lever16, this lever being a part of a collar 17 surrounding and clamped to asleeve 18 having cam followers 19 thereon. This sleeve 18 in turnsurrounds the starter rod 20 on which is a fixed nut 21 against whichthe lower end of the sleeve 18 rests. Above the sleeve 18 a secondsleeve 22 surrounds the starter rod 20, this sleeve 22 having a flangeor plate 23 through which screws 24 are threaded, these screws 24 havingreduced ends fitting in the threaded bushings 26 which are fixed in thedash 27. Thus the sleeve 22 is restrained from rotative movement. Thecam followers 19 cooperate with the cams 28 on the sleeve 22 when thesleeve 18 is rotated, as will be hereinafter more fullydescribed, thefollowers 19 having a predetermined limit or amount of free travel. Theinterior of the collar 17 is serrated, to cooperate with serrations onthe sleeve 18, as illustrated. Thus the collar 17 and lever 16 may beadjusted to predetermined position on the circumference ofthe sleeve 18and then clamped in adjusted position by means of the clamping screw 29.i r

Below the steering wheel 2 is fixed the spark control rod quadrant 30,normally having an upstanding lug 31 at-each end thereof. I break offthe lug at the retard end of the quadrant, however, and apply an arcuateplate 32 beneath the said quadrant. This plate is ofgreater length thanthe quadrant 30, and has upstandin lugs 33 and 34 at the advance andretard ends thereof respectively. I then position a short arcuate plate35 on the plate 32, having an end,36 adapted to project slightly overthe quadrant 30, the plate 35 and plate 32 being united by means of ascrew 37.

Thus it is now possible to move the spark control rod to fully retardedposition and be- ,yond. After said rod 38 has reached the 60 fullyretarded position,'it will ride over the plate 35' and will rotate thelever 3 carrying the ball stud 4. This will move the arm 7 to the left,as: viewedin Fig. 4, operating the lever 16 to rotate thesleeve 18. 'camfollowers 19 havetraveled the predeter- After the nut 21 which is fixedto the starter rod 20, 1

said starter rod 20 will also be depressed to' make the desired contactin the starterswitch.

This depression of the starter rod-20 will, of course, be against thetension of the usual starter rod spring. Onreturning thespark controlrod 38 to normal,pb'sition, the, sleeve 18 will of course be rotated inthe opposite direction, and the starter rod spring will raise thestarter rod'to normal position. When the spark control rod 38 again contacts with the notched portion of the quadrant 30, the starter rod willhave been returned to normal position, and the spark will be in retardedposition.

In moving the arm 7 to the in Fig. 4, when the'spark adjusting rod 5 hasreached fully retarded position, it becomes desirable to prevent furthermove-..

fully retarded position of the spark adjusting rod has been reached, theyoke l2 will'slide along the arm 7 against the tension of the spring 39,this spring 39 being mounted in a recess 40 in the outer end ofthe arm7, and being held in place by the projecting arms 13 at one end, and bythe lug 41 at the outer end of the recess 40. ,When the arm7 is beleft,as viewed 'ment of said rod in that direction. When comethis'difliculty, I providenovel means .the spark control rod 38 and beclamped in position by a screw 46. This arm 42 is of such a length thatwhen the spark control rod 38 is moved. toward. starter operatingposition, as illustrated in dotted lines in Fig. 2, said arm 42willengage the throttle control rod 47, operating on the quadrant 48 andwill move said throttle control rod a few notches toward open position,thus rotating the throttle lever 49 and operating the throttle adjustingrod 50. Thus an increased flow of gasoline to the intake manifold of theengine is'automatically provided before contact is made in the starterswitch. ,When the spark control rod is then moved toward advancedposition, the throttle rod 47 will remain in the position to which ithas been moved, insuring against stalling of the enlgliyne. Theadvantages of this feature will instantly apparent. Thus my novel devicereduces the operations heretofore required to start an automobileengine, to a single operation, viz., manipulation ofthe spark controlrod. This manipulation of said rod retards the spark, opens the throttleand operates the starter switch, a feature which will be greatlyappreciated, particularly by owners of Ford automobiles.

The operation of my novel deviceis simple and will be readilyunderstood, being briefly described as follows: It being desired tostart the automobile engine, the ignition switch is turned on, the sparkcontrol rod,38 moved to retarded position and then beyond said position,whereupon the sleeve 18 will be rotated and the cam followers 19 willride on the cams 28, sliding the sleeve downwardly and depressing -thestarter rod. Simultaneously with the retarding of the spark control rod38, the throttle control rod 47 will be opened slightly. When the sparkcontrol rod has reached fully retarded position, movement of the sparkadjusting rod 5 beyond that point will be prevented by the yoke 12sliding on the arm 7, thus preventing injury to the timer. When theengine has started, the spark control rod 38 is moved toward advancedposition, leaving the throttle control rod 47 slightly open to providesuificient gasoline to insure against stalling of the engine.

It will be appreciated and understood that I have devised an eflicientand .simple apparatus of this nature, one which is economical and simpleto install and since I believe this device to be entirely novel, I havetherefore claimed the same broadly in the present application.

.-While I have necessarily described my present invention somewhat indetail, it will be appreciated that I may vary the size, shape andarrangement of parts within reasonably wide limits without departingfrom the spirit of the invention.

My invention is further described and defined in the form of claims asfollows:

1. Starter control mechanism of the kind described, comprisin a fixedsleeve, cams on said sleeve, a slidabl e sleeve, cam followers on saidsecond sleeve, each of'said sleeves surrounding the starter rod, andmeans to ro-' tate said slidable sleeve whereby the cam followersthereon will engage the cams on the fixed sleeve and effect a depressionof said I slidable sleeve.

slidable sleeve whereby the cam followers thereon will engage the camson the fixed sleeve and efiect a depression of said slidabl sleeve.

I 3. Starter control mechanism of the kind described, comprising a fixedsleeve, cams on said sleeve, a slidable sleeve, cam followers on saidsecond sleeve, each of said sleeves surrounding the starter rod, meansoperable by the spark control rod to rotate sald slidable sleeve wherebythe cam followers thereon will engage the cams on the fixed sleeve andeffect a depression of said slidable sleeve, and means operable by saidspark control rod to advance the throttle control rod simultaneouslywith the depression of said slidable sleeve.

4. Starter control mechanism of the kind described, comprising a fixedsleeve. surrounding the starter rod, cams "on said sleeve, 9. slidablesleeve below said fixed sleeve and surrounding the starter rod, camfollowers on said lower sleeve, a member fixed to said starter rod andengaged by said lower sleeve, and an arm connected at one end to saidlower sleeve and at its other end to the spark control lever. I

5. Starter control mechanism of the kind described, comprising a fixedsleeve surrounding the starter rod, cams on said sleeve, a slidablesleeve below said fixed sleeve and surrounding the starter rod, camfollowers on said lower sleeve, a member fixed to said starter rod andengaged by said lower sleeve,

and an arm pivotally connected at one end to.

said lower sleeve and pivotally connected at its other end to the sparkcontrol lever.

6. Starter control mechanism of the kind described, comprising a fixedsleeve surrounding the starter rod, cams on said sleeve, a slidablesleeve below said fixed sleeve and surrounding the starter rod camfollowers on said lower sleeve, a member fixed to said starter rod andengaged by said lower sleeve, and an arm pivotally connected at one endto said lower sleeve and pivotally connected at its other end to thespark control lever, the normal spark adjusting rod being pivotallyconnected to said arm.

7. Starter control mechanism of the kind described, comprising a fixedsleeve surround ing the starter rod, cams on said sleeve, 8. slidablesleeve below said fixed sleeve and surrounding the starter rod, camfollowers on said lower sleeve, a member fixed to said starter rod andengaged by said lower sleeve,

and an arm ivotally connected at one end to said lower s eeve andpivotally connected at its other end to the spark control lever, thenormal spark adjusting rod being pivotally connected to said arm, saidspark adjusting rod being movable through a port-ion only of themovement of said arm.

8. Starter control mechanism of the kind described, comprising a fixedsleeve surround ing the starter rod, cams on said sleeve, 9.

slidable sleeve below said fixed sleeve and surrounding the starter rod,cam followers on said lower sleeve, a member fixed to saidstarter rodand engaged by said lower sleeve, 7

spark control rod may be moved beyond nor-I mal retarding position.

'9'. Starter controlmechanism of the kind described, comprising a fixedsleeve surround;

ing the starter rod, cams on. said sleeve,- a 4 slidable sleeve belowsaid fixed sleeve and surrounding the starter rod, cam followers on saidlower sleeve, a member fixedto said starterrod and engaged by said lowersleeve,

an arm connected at one end to said lower sleeve and at its other end tothe spark control lever, means associated with thespark control roduadrant whereby said spark control rod may e movedbeyond normalretarding position, and means associated with said spark control rodadapted to engage the throttle control rod after the spark control rodhas .passed its normal retarded position.

10. Starter controlmechanism of the kind described, comprising a: fixedsleeve surrounding the starter rod, cams on said sleeve, a slidablesleeve below said fixed sleeve and surrounding the starter rod, camfollowers on said lower sleeve, a member fixed to said starter rod andengaged by said lowersleeve, an arm connected at one end to said lowersleeve and at its other end to the spark control lever, means associatedwith the spark control rod quadrant whereby said spark controlrod may bemoved beyond normal retarding position, and an arcuate arm afiixed tosaid s ark control rod adapted to engage the throt le control rod afterthe spark, control rod has passed its normal retarded position) -f 11.Starter control mechanism of the kind described, comprising a fixedsleeve surrounding the starter rod, cams on said sleeve, a 'slidable'sleeve below said' fixed sleeve and surrounding the starter rod, camfollowers on said lower sleeve, a member fixed to said starter rod andengaged'by said lower sleeve, an arm pivotally connected at one end tosaid lower sleeve and pivotally connected at its other end to the sparkcontrol lever, and a yoke slidably mounted onv said arm, the sparkadjusting rod being pivotally connected to said yoke.

- 12. Starter control mechanism of the kind described, comprising afixed sleeve surrounding the starter rod, cams on said sleeve, aslidable sleeve below said fixed sleeve and surrounding the starter rod,cam, followers on said lower sleeve, a memberfixed to said starter rodand engaged by said lower'sleeve, an arm pivotally connected at one endto said other end to the spark control lever, a yoke slidably'mounted onsaid arm, the spark adj usting rod being pivotally connected to saidyoke," and a spring against the tension of which said yoke slides afterpredetermined movement of said arm in one direction.

13. Starter control mechanismof the kind described, comprising a fixedsleeve sur-. rounding the starter rod, cams on said sleeve, a slidablesleeve below said fixed sleeve and surrounding the starter rod, camfollowerson said lower sleeve, a member fixed to said starter rod andengaged by said lower sleeve, a lever on said lower sleeve, and an armpivotally connected at one end to said leverand pivotally connected atits other end to the spark control lever. a

' 14. Starter control mechanism of the kind described, comprising afixed sleeve surrounding the starter rod, cams on said sleeve, aslidable sleeve below said fixed sleeve and surrounding the starter rod,cam followers on said lower sleeve, a member fixed to said starter rodand engaged by said lower sleeve,

an adjustable collar on said lower sleeve, a

lever on said ,collar, and an arm pivotally connected at one endto saidlever and piv-- otally connected at itsother end to the spark controllever.

15. Starter control mechanism of the kind described, comprising a fixedsleeve surroundin the starter rod, cams on said sleeve,

a slidabl e sleeve below, said fixed sleeve and surrounding the starterrod, cam followers onsaid lower sleeve, a member fixed to said starterrod and engaged by said lower sleeve,

an adustable collar on said lower sleeve, a

lever on said collar, and an arm pivotally connected at one end to saidlever and pivotally connectedat its other end to the spark controllever, the" normal spark adjusting rod ing movable throughout aportiononly ofthe movement of said arm. c A

Intestimony whereof, Ihave signed my name to-this specification.

' ALFRED F. JACKSON.

lower "sleeve and pivotally connected at its being pivotally connectedto said arm and be

